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Tatars (Tatar: Tatarlar/Татарлар), sometimes spelled Tartars, are a Turkic ethnic group numbering 6 to 7 million in the late 20th century. Russia is home to the majority of ethnic Tatars, with a population of around 5,500,000. Turkey, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan also each have populations greater than 30,000. The original Tatars inhabited the north-eastern Gobi in the 5th century and, after subjugation in the 9th century by the Khitans, migrated southward. In the 13th century, they were subjugated by the Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan. Under the leadership of his grandson Batu Khan, they moved westwards, driving with them many of the Turkic peoples toward the plains of Russia. In Europe, they were assimilated by the local populations or their name spread to the conquered peoples: Kipchaks, Kimaks and others; and elsewhere with Uralic-speaking peoples, as well as with remnants of the ancient Greek colonies in the Crimea and Caucasians in the Caucasus. Siberian Tatars are survivors of the Turkic population of the Ural-Altaic region, mixed to some extent with the speakers of Uralic languages, as well as with Mongols. Later, each group adopted Turkic languages and many adopted Islam. The three ethnic descendants of the original 13th-century westward migration are Volga Tatars, Lipka Tatars and Crimean Tatars. Tatars comprise a spectrum of physical appearance, ranging from Mongoloid and Caucasoid or a mixture of both and some (but not all) have an Asian origin. |